


Just for Show

by afewreelthoughts



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Homophobia, M/M, Thanksgiving
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-24
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2019-05-27 20:27:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15032576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afewreelthoughts/pseuds/afewreelthoughts
Summary: Davos attends Thanksgiving as Stannis’s boyfriend. Renly has some questions.





	Just for Show

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing and make no money from this. Everything belongs to George R.R. Martin.

“Tell the story again - I have to know everything!” Renly said, settling further back onto the couch. "So he asked you out? Or did you ask him out first, and he just asked you here tonight?”

Davos had known that Renly would  _have to know everything_  and so he and Stannis had come prepared with a carefully coordinated story. “Stannis and I have been seeing each other a couple months and – ”

“A couple of  _months_?”

“ – and about a week ago, we decided to make it official. So he asked me to come here as his boyfriend."

Try as he might, Renly wouldn’t be able to poke holes in that part of the story. Stannis hadcalled Davos about a week ago, brimming with frustration. “I can’t stand going to these things alone, and Robert’s pity, his fucking pity… it's so much worse than his jokes about my virginity growing back. And Selyse will be there...”

“So you want me to come to Thanksgiving as your… fake boyfriend?” Davos had asked.

“If that’s not too much to ask?"

Loras slumped onto the couch next to Renly. “Why is your family so boring?” he whispered, loud enough for Davos to hear.

“Boring is better than fighting,” Renly whispered back. “And I swear Robert’s already trying to start something, not that he means to.”

“You think he doesn’t mean it?” Davos asked.

Renly shrugged. “He starts fights. That’s just what Robert does.”

Davos had been helping put the finishing touches on the food, Selyse giving him murderous glances the whole time, when Robert had walked in, a can of beer in one hand, and addressed the room. “Any of you see my stupid brother anywhere?”

“Which one?” Cersei said.

Robert must not have seen Davos there, cause he said, “The one with the stick up his ass, and something else as well, it turns out.” He snorted. "Can you believe? Out of all my brothers, I’m the only one who isn’t a…"

And Davos had left the kitchen before he could hear the rest of what Robert said, glad that Stannis had already disappeared.

“Where were you when we were wrestling that turkey?" Davos asked Renly, hoping to turn the conversation away from him and Stannis. 

"I helped,” Renly said, "before you and Stannis got here, and I brought pies, too. You’ll thank me. Selyse baked one herself, but she doesn’t believe in sugar.”

“Where’s your other brother gotten to?”

Renly looked out onto the patio. “Needed some alone time. And dinner hasn’t even started.” When he looked back at Davos, he narrowed his eyes. “My _other brother_? Don’t you mean your boyfriend?”

“Yeah,” Davos said, meeting his eyes and smiling, “that, too.”

Renly’s mouth curled up in the corner. “You guys have been friends for what, ten, twelve years? And then suddenly you’re in love? There’s got to be a story there.”

It hadn’t been sudden. It had hit Davos about a couple years ago, when Stannis had called him in tears after a day of custody battles with Selyse and begged Davos not to tell anybody about their conversation, “Not Renly or Mel and please not Robert." Davos had felt something wringing deep in his chest, like the feeling had been making a nest there all these years and he only just noticed it, and he had said, “Yeah, sure. I won’t tell anybody.” The feeling had stayed and stayed and stayed.

“Not much of a story. Just decided we liked each other more than we thought,” Davos said.

Renly was smiling like he knew something Davos didn’t, Loras draped over him like an extremely contented cat. The sight distracted Davos more than it ought to, made the feeling in his chest twist even tighter. 

Davos excused himself, and went outside. Stannis was looking out over the yard, leaning his arms on the wooden rail.

“Your brother has a lot of questions,” Davos said.

"I wouldn’t worry about it. Renly thinks he’s very smart, but he couldn’t tell time until he was fourteen.”

Davos stood next to him, and a comfortable silence wrapped them both up.

"You should kiss me,” Stannis said, and then more quietly, “for show, you know."

"Of course,” Davos said. He felt sick.

“Will dinner be ready soon?”

“Yes, it will.” 

Davos leaned towards him.

Stannis furrowed his brow.

“Didn’t you say that I should kiss you?” Davos asked.

“There’s no one around,” Stannis said, “and this is…” He looked down at Davos’s lips and then up again. “This is for show.”

“Most people don’t kiss in front of their entire family,” Davos said.

Stannis rolled his eyes. “Tell that to Robert. The things I’ve had to see with my own eyes…”

Davos didn’t mean to say it out loud, he really didn’t, he knew he could keep his thoughts to himself. All the same, he said, “Why did you ask me here?”

Stannis blinked. “Excuse me?”

“Why not one of your other friends?”

“Yes, because I have  _so many_ other friends.”

“I’m serious. Why not Mel? You’ve heard what Robert says about Renly. Why make things harder for yourself?” 

Stannis looked away, and Davos inwardly cursed at himself.

“I’m sorry that’s none of my - ”

“Because I am less lonely with you around,” Stannis said.

The feeling in Davos’s chest, that had been wound so tight for so long, began to unravel. He felt lightheaded and childish. He told himself there was nothing behind those words but the words themselves. Stannis didn’t speak in riddles. 

He had, however, asked for a kiss. Davos put a hand on Stannis’s chin. If he was going to do this, he was going to do it right. He pulled Stannis gently towards him, giving him ample time to move away if he wanted to and pressed their lips together even more gently. Davos kissed him again, longer this time, and moved his lips slowly. Stannis’s lips parted and he kissed Davos back, almost hesitant, and his hand was shaking when it grasped Davos’s shoulder.

When they parted, they were both slightly out of breath.

“We should go inside,” Stannis said, and Davos thought he saw the hint of a smile.

“Yeah. We should.”


End file.
